Chet Gresham

Targets and Touches

Week 15 Target Watch: NFC

Welcome to the NFC targets and touches for Week 15 of the NFL season. The AFC portion will be up tomorrow night.

I have all the targets for each player since Week 10, and then in parentheses are the total and then average targets per game played for that player. Then below that I have the Red Zone targets and touches for each player, now sorted for rushing attempts and passing targets from Week 10 on. I hope you enjoy and if you get a chance give a follow on Twitter.

Here I have the top 10ish red zone targets for the season. These are sorted by targets only, the running back rushing stats are there for your amusement, but aren’t the top guys at carries in the red zone. I’ll give those to you in the AFC portion tomorrow. You’ll see many of the usual suspects here, but there are some interesting tidbits to glean. Shane Vereen has eight red zone targets and missed most of the season! Calvin Johnson and Wes Welker are the only players to have more red zone targets than Danny Woodhead. Jerricho Cotchery has more red zone targets than Dez Bryant and so forth and so on. Take a look-see.

Larry Fitzgerald is becoming Wes Welker and that’s really not a bad thing. He caught all 12 of his targets for 96 yards and one touchdown. Fitz used to be the big play guy on the outside and now he’s working in the slot close to half of the time.

Andre Ellington returned and split time with Rashard Mendenhall like he has for most of the season. They both got into the end zone in this one, but that’s only the second time that has happened this season. They’ll continue to hurt each other’s fantasy value.

Roddy White looks to have finally passed Harry Douglas in the targets department. Against the Packers he had 10 targets and caught eight passes for 74 yards while Harry Douglas saw seven targets and caught two for 20 yards. White also has seen four red zone targets in the last five games, which leads the team.

Steven Jackson is finally looking like the back we hoped for this season. He didn’t get much in the way of fantasy points in this one, but did look good on his 16 touches for 80 yards.

Editor's Note: Rotoworld's partner FanDuel is hosting a one-week $300,000 Fantasy Football league for Week 15. It's $25 to join and first prize is $25,000. Starts Sunday at 1pm ET. Here's the FanDuel link.

Greg Olsen remains the target leader in Carolina by a few targets over Steve Smith who caught his first touchdown since Week 7. Cam Newton has only had three games with three touchdown passes, so that’s 10 games with two touchdowns or less and that’s not conducive to consistent fantasy points for his receivers.

Has Alshon Jeffery passed Brandon Marshall? Over the last seven games Marshall has caught 44 of 74 targets for 625 yards and four touchdowns while Alshon Jeffery has caught 46 of 77 targets for 737 yards and four touchdowns. It’s hard to say he’s passed him, but you can’t really say Brandon Marshall is the no doubt #1 receiver anymore.

Dez Bryant is the #1 receiver of course, but for his ability he isn’t seeing consistent targets. In Week 10 he had two targets and last week he saw just four. He makes up for it with touchdowns with 10 on the season, but he ranks 11th in fantasy for wide receivers. You would think the Cowboys horrible defense would mean a lot more targets for Bryant as the Cowboys try to come from behind, but it’s just not happening. This season Romo ranks 13th with 460 pass attempts through 13 games. Last year through 13 games Romo ranked fifth with 526. He has many less interceptions as a result of a more balanced approach, but is also not getting the ball to his best player as often.

Miles Austin or Terrance Williams haven’t topped six targets in the last four games and in turn have canceled each other’s fantasy value out. Williams seems like he should be seeing more snaps and targets than Austin at this point, but it just isn’t happening.

Matthew Stafford had better numbers in the blizzard portion of the Lions/Eagles game than the clear portion, but he was pretty much off the whole game as he completed just 10-of-25 passes for 148 yards. Of course I think we can give him and the whole Lions offense a mulligan on this one. Besides the blizzard, Reggie Bush was injured in warmups and it just went downhill from there.

Andrew Quarless led the Packers in targets, receptions and receiving touchdowns in this one. When you have Jordy Nelson, James Jones and Jarrett Boykin that seems a little odd, but it ended up working as they pulled out the win. If Aaron Rodgers is back next week I doubt we’ll see Quarless lead the team in receptions, so it’s hard to put much stock in this particular stat. Rodgers will return to his top wide receivers and of course has the ability to get them the ball.

It really is nice the Vikings are getting the ball to their playmaking rookie Cordarrelle Patterson. He leads the team in targets over the last five weeks and had his biggest game of the season in Baltimore as he caught five of seven targets for 141 yards and a touchdown.

Greg Jennings led the team in targets in this one and led them last week as well. That is partly due to Matt Cassel becoming the quarterback. As long as he’s in he will continue to target Jennings.

Welcome to the NFC targets and touches for Week 15 of the NFL season. The AFC portion will be up tomorrow night.

I have all the targets for each player since Week 10, and then in parentheses are the total and then average targets per game played for that player. Then below that I have the Red Zone targets and touches for each player, now sorted for rushing attempts and passing targets from Week 10 on. I hope you enjoy and if you get a chance give a follow on Twitter.

Here I have the top 10ish red zone targets for the season. These are sorted by targets only, the running back rushing stats are there for your amusement, but aren’t the top guys at carries in the red zone. I’ll give those to you in the AFC portion tomorrow. You’ll see many of the usual suspects here, but there are some interesting tidbits to glean. Shane Vereen has eight red zone targets and missed most of the season! Calvin Johnson and Wes Welker are the only players to have more red zone targets than Danny Woodhead. Jerricho Cotchery has more red zone targets than Dez Bryant and so forth and so on. Take a look-see.

Larry Fitzgerald is becoming Wes Welker and that’s really not a bad thing. He caught all 12 of his targets for 96 yards and one touchdown. Fitz used to be the big play guy on the outside and now he’s working in the slot close to half of the time.

Andre Ellington returned and split time with Rashard Mendenhall like he has for most of the season. They both got into the end zone in this one, but that’s only the second time that has happened this season. They’ll continue to hurt each other’s fantasy value.

Roddy White looks to have finally passed Harry Douglas in the targets department. Against the Packers he had 10 targets and caught eight passes for 74 yards while Harry Douglas saw seven targets and caught two for 20 yards. White also has seen four red zone targets in the last five games, which leads the team.

Steven Jackson is finally looking like the back we hoped for this season. He didn’t get much in the way of fantasy points in this one, but did look good on his 16 touches for 80 yards.

Editor's Note: Rotoworld's partner FanDuel is hosting a one-week $300,000 Fantasy Football league for Week 15. It's $25 to join and first prize is $25,000. Starts Sunday at 1pm ET. Here's the FanDuel link.

Greg Olsen remains the target leader in Carolina by a few targets over Steve Smith who caught his first touchdown since Week 7. Cam Newton has only had three games with three touchdown passes, so that’s 10 games with two touchdowns or less and that’s not conducive to consistent fantasy points for his receivers.

Has Alshon Jeffery passed Brandon Marshall? Over the last seven games Marshall has caught 44 of 74 targets for 625 yards and four touchdowns while Alshon Jeffery has caught 46 of 77 targets for 737 yards and four touchdowns. It’s hard to say he’s passed him, but you can’t really say Brandon Marshall is the no doubt #1 receiver anymore.

Dez Bryant is the #1 receiver of course, but for his ability he isn’t seeing consistent targets. In Week 10 he had two targets and last week he saw just four. He makes up for it with touchdowns with 10 on the season, but he ranks 11th in fantasy for wide receivers. You would think the Cowboys horrible defense would mean a lot more targets for Bryant as the Cowboys try to come from behind, but it’s just not happening. This season Romo ranks 13th with 460 pass attempts through 13 games. Last year through 13 games Romo ranked fifth with 526. He has many less interceptions as a result of a more balanced approach, but is also not getting the ball to his best player as often.

Miles Austin or Terrance Williams haven’t topped six targets in the last four games and in turn have canceled each other’s fantasy value out. Williams seems like he should be seeing more snaps and targets than Austin at this point, but it just isn’t happening.

Matthew Stafford had better numbers in the blizzard portion of the Lions/Eagles game than the clear portion, but he was pretty much off the whole game as he completed just 10-of-25 passes for 148 yards. Of course I think we can give him and the whole Lions offense a mulligan on this one. Besides the blizzard, Reggie Bush was injured in warmups and it just went downhill from there.

Andrew Quarless led the Packers in targets, receptions and receiving touchdowns in this one. When you have Jordy Nelson, James Jones and Jarrett Boykin that seems a little odd, but it ended up working as they pulled out the win. If Aaron Rodgers is back next week I doubt we’ll see Quarless lead the team in receptions, so it’s hard to put much stock in this particular stat. Rodgers will return to his top wide receivers and of course has the ability to get them the ball.

It really is nice the Vikings are getting the ball to their playmaking rookie Cordarrelle Patterson. He leads the team in targets over the last five weeks and had his biggest game of the season in Baltimore as he caught five of seven targets for 141 yards and a touchdown.

Greg Jennings led the team in targets in this one and led them last week as well. That is partly due to Matt Cassel becoming the quarterback. As long as he’s in he will continue to target Jennings.

On the season Pierre Thomas has 70 targets to Darren Sproles’ 69 targets. Sproles did miss one game, but that still shows just how much the Saints trust Thomas in the passing game this season. Last year, even though Sproles missed three games Thomas had 53 targets to Sproles’ 103. So those of us who loved Sproles this preseason finally have to face the harsh reality that Thomas has 192 total touches to Sproles’ 100. But Sproles is averaging .81 fantasy points per touch compared to Thomas’ .53.

Hakeem Nicks had his best game in a while with five receptions on seven targets for 135 yards. This was his third 100 yard game of the year, the last one coming in Week 5. He has yet to catch a touchdown pass.

After Eli Manning threw four touchdowns in the season opener against Dallas he has totaled 12 touchdown passes in 12 games with 17 interceptions. Six of those 12 touchdowns went to Rueben Randle. So that leaves six receiving touchdown passes in the last 12 games for Victor Cruz, Hakeem Nicks, Brandon Myers and whoever else pops up. This offense has truly been a fantasy killer this season.

The Eagles had to deal with the eight inches of snow and it didn’t look like they were going to get anything at all, but in the fourth quarter LeSean McCoy erupted for two long touchdowns and 148 of his 217 rushing yards.

Anquan Boldin has turned it on in the last four games with 26 receptions on 36 targets for 341 yards and three touchdowns. He’s also topped 93 yards in his last three when he hadn’t had one game over 93 yards since his Week 1 explosion for 208 yards. His six receptions for 93 yards were in stark contrast to his last game against Seattle when he was completely stifled for 1 reception for seven yards. The return of Michael Crabtree is the biggest difference between those two games. Boldin isn’t going to get much when getting the best of the defense’s coverage. He is much better suited for the #2 receiver position at this point in his career.

Michael Crabtree tied him with the target lead, but was held to four receptions for 40 yards. The Seahawks will do that to you. Vernon Davis only had three targets, which is a little disconcerting, but he still caught a touchdown and leads in red zone targets.

These 49er/Seahawk games are the ones you try to stay away from in fantasy. They’re great real games often enough, but there’s not a big yardage and scoring party. Golden Tate leads the team in targets over the last month, but is only averaging 6 targets per game. That ranks around 47th for wide receivers. That’s not going to get you many fantasy points. Oh, did I mention he leads the team?

Luke Willson had a good game. He caught three passes for 70 yards and a touchdown, but only had four targets. It’s a good sign for the rookie, but nothing we can rely on.

Jared Cook has nine red zone targets all season. That seems off for a player with his ability and size doesn’t it? But I digress. Kellen Clemens is not anywhere near a good quarterback unless he’s playing against one. He has five touchdown passes and five interceptions in six games.

Zac Stacy had a tough time against the Cardinals with just 22 total yards, but did find the end zone and has five touchdowns in his last five games.

Tampa Bay won this game 27-6 and Mike Glennon completed 9-of-25 passes for 90 yards. Yes, he did throw two touchdowns, but also threw two interceptions. This loss was all on E.J. Manuel who threw zero touchdowns and four interceptions.

Bobby Rainey had 80 yards on one carry, but had 47 yards on his 21 other carries. The Buccaneers’ offense was pretty much shut down, but with Manuel giving them great field position it didn’t really matter.

Washington was humiliated by Kansas City on Sunday. Robert Griffin III only completed 12-of 26 passes for 164 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Pierre Garcon once again had a ton of targets and once again didn’t have much production. I believe they are really missing Jordan Reed right now. Garcon needs somebody to take the heat off him and Griffin.